hwo does one determine searcher intent keyword?

I hear this all the time. "Choose the right keywords because you need to consider searcher intent... are the people which are using these keywords looking to get information or buy?" Is there like a tool that tells you this? What permits you to know?

use your brain

someone searches "used car dallas" they're intending to buy a used car in dallas, the traffic is valuable and competitive

someone searches "used prius vs camry" they're looking for information, the traffic is less valuable and less competitive

wankawonk said:

use your brain

someone searches "used car dallas" they're intending to buy a used car in dallas, the traffic is valuable and competitive

someone searches "used prius vs camry" they're looking for information, the traffic is less valuable and less competitive

Click to expand...

^this
and if you still struggle, then just search your keyword on google and check what kind of websites and contents ranks in the first 3 position, that is the user intent of the keyword

The first thing to do when determine search intent for a keyword is simply ask yourself what would be your reason for typing that keyword into Google

Search your keyword and check the top results.

Those are the "answers" that are matching the intent for the keyword.

Yours should do something similar.

Don't try to rank for a recipe with 10k words piece for example.

wankawonk said:

use your brain

someone searches "used car dallas" they're intending to buy a used car in dallas, the traffic is valuable and competitive

someone searches "used prius vs camry" they're looking for information, the traffic is less valuable and less competitive

Click to expand...

Yes, so the keywords you choose must match the "intent" of your website. Think of the audience you are pertaining to. A group of people entering starbucks don't necessarily want to be served mcdonalds.

Put yourself in the shoes of a visitor.
Queries followed by 'top' and 'best' are usually product-oriented
Informational queries are straightforward.

1. Issue the query
2. Check the 10 top results
3. Make up for yourself that those results are currently satisfying the intent (and base your KW research on that search intent keywords)
4. Generate a content that, based on those results, satisfy that intent. Make 1 or 2 improvements, thinking that you could improve even further the intent.
5. Wait and see how your new content is ranking (at least 2 or 3 months)
6. Check the SERP results to see if the first results you saw are almost the same.
7. In case they have changed, change your site accordingly.
8. Rinse and repeat

Note: Sometimes the SERP is not 100% accurate and you may see in the 10 top results what is called "a mixed intent". Choose one of the main intents, don't try to go for all. Check after a couple of months to see if the mixed intent has integrated or if it stays the same
For example: "garden accesories", could be an informational intent or a buying intent, therefore a "mixed intent". You may see both pages with "informational content" or "e-commerces". Choose one of both, an informational content to write, or if your have an ecommerce, your garden accesory listing.

There is no rule of thumb for this. What Quality raters basically do, is check the multiple intents and suggest to Google the primary and secondary intents according to them.
But for a SEO pro, what primes is the CURRENT intent, not your HYPOTHESIS. Although you could try an hyphotesis and intent switch to it over the time, from my point of view is too risky and a waste of time. You will nail it 1 out of 100 times at best.

The safest way to work on this topic is going by the CURRENT INTENT theory.

TL;TR This:

tiiberius said:

Search your keyword and check the top results.
Those are the "answers" that are matching the intent for the keyword.

Click to expand...

You gain experience in researching what will be a good keyword the more you do it, and the more you do it the easier it becomes to think of new and better intent, as your site grows, and you see what is working. Have you started with a site or are you still researching?

I notice that I have some sites that respond well to intent articles, and those articles normally have every aspect of the topic covered, so the intent may vary a bit, but I hopefully cover it.

Ideally, you'll have to check both real user search intent and what google is considering as search intent,
In most of the cases, they do match, but a double-check would be better to make you're not wasting your time/efforts

Checking the actual user search intent is really simple, just use common sense,
For example, a search query for something price is more likely a buying search intent other than informational

Make a double-check in the SERPs and see what kind of pages do rank for these keywords,
Just to make sure what kind of pages is google actually picking

If you're looking for some tool that does help you filtering or getting some set type of keywords,
I believe ahrefs can do the trick, but it's not too accurate when it comes to this